Paris Climate Deal Will Likely Be Reached, but Language Is Vague: Expert

After ten days of talks at a landmark climate conference in Paris, a global carbon emissions agreement is expected, but its efficacy is questionable, according to one expert. ‘It looks like there will be an agreement in Paris, primarily because I don’t think anyone wants to be responsible for torpedoing any possibility of an agreement,’ said Professor Sam Adelman, an associate professor at the Warwick University School, based in Coventry, UK. The 10-day Paris climate conference, known as COP21, was supposed to wrap up on Friday, but talks have been extended into the weekend, as officials have already drafted a 27-page agreement. The deal aims to cap rises in global average temperatures to ‘well below’ two degrees Celsius with further goals of bringing that threshold down to 1.5 degrees. ‘But the agreement as it stands now is full of vague and woody language,’ Adelman added. ‘The pledges that countries have made so far don’t take us even close to two degrees Celsius, but closer to three degrees, which will be incredibly catastrophic for a great number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and small island states.’ Adelman speaks with TheStreet’s Scott Gamm.